To think it's outrageous that a poor pensioner is charged money because she saved

[MummyChelleKent]

I'm so upset with the mail story. A very poor pensioner on a pension of 150 a week saved a bit every month. After a while she saved up 22k to help with her funeral costs and now she's being told she can't have housing benefit and will have to give them all of her savings!

And that’s the end of the OP.

This is all kinds of wrong... How the eff did she manage to save 22 fecking GRAND on a 'mere pension?'

Something well dodgy going on here. No WAY did she save that from her pension. You'd have to be saving £100 a month for almost 20 years... (or £200 a month for 10 years....)

And YANBU @MummyChelleKent she absolutely SHOULD have her benefits stopped. Everyone else would,, why should SHE have special allowances?

Do you have a link to the story by the way? How old is she? And how long has she been saving?

Sorry but benefits are NOT a lifestyle choice, they are there for those in need,

Often 'in need' through a life-style choice! Get off your high horses, there are people in genuine need but there are too many not.
Her real mistake was in not keeping it in a relative's name, we did this for my mother, not as much money as this but enough to lose her the tiny amount of rent assistance she received.

I think the point is that if you're on benefits then you are on the bare minimum and not in a position to save. Most savings are from before you needed benefits in the first place.

At the end of the day when so many working families or just getting by and can't afford to save, it would be a kick in the teeth to let this go. Pensioners are very protected in terms of changes to the benefits over the years, as has been mentioned the threshold for working age claimants is 6k but 16k if you are a pensioner.

If she had no intention of using this money ever then her family would have benefited from it as inheritance eventually. If she repays now, she can put the £12 per month towards a funeral policy instead, reclaim benefits from now and carry on with life. Her family won't like that though, wonder why...

Non Daily Mail link here www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/widow-86-left-penniless-after-being-stripped-of-her-nest-egg-for-saving-too-much/ar-AAEoJs3?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=mailsignout It's the Mirror via MSN so not not the most balanced piece but not the DM.

Odd story and I suspect there's a lot more to it than we're being told. Given how much she has saved it seems fair to say she doesn't need benefits. But she should be given allowances in terms of what she repays and how.

Some benefits are means tested. Some aren't.
There's also rules on giving money away to try to get benefits, care home costs covered etc. The DWP will investigate if they think you have been acting fraudently.

If she can't read and has learning difficulties the chances are that she has an appointee (probably a family member) who has filled the forms in over and over again and has helped her to squirrel away the money.

This doesn't add up. The appointee (if there is one) is the person who would be in trouble, not the claimant.

I am not sure about this story. But someone has committed benefit fraud and it may not have been the claimant.

She has saved this money. If she had spent all of this on bingo, holidays and wine she wouldn't be in any trouble with the law

Well that's an interesting conversation. Many people don't have enough money to survive on so they get pension credit. They may also get care home fees paid for. They may have no money because they have frittered it away on holidays and wine. Or they may have had to pay rent and not had the chance to save.

Some of course have plenty of money because they may have a good job, or they have money from inheritance or have owned their own home. Then they can't get pension credit or care home fees paid until they reach the magic £23,250 level when it gets complicated.

We could live in a world where everyone gets benefits and care homes paid for when they get older. Or no one does.

We should all be saving up for our retirement - but holidays and wine are nice.

I too work in this area and have had similar chats at work.

She had £32k in savings according to the article and was fraudulently claiming HB and council tax relief for many years, she now has to pay it back. Sounds fair enough to me, they weren't her savings it was tax payers money and they have done the right thing recovering it..

Her family have let her down, considering she was declared illiterate at 14, by not ensuring her finances and benefit claim were in order.

My mother was in receipt of full attendance allowance for over 20 years. Every month the payment went into her building society account and there it stayed untouched as she refused to spend her money. When the time came for her to go into residential accommodation she ended up paying over £30,000 in fees simply because she had too much saved. If she had spent the attendance allowance she would have had paid nothing.

My mother was in receipt of full attendance allowance for over 20 years. Every month the payment went into her building society account and there it stayed untouched as she refused to spend her money

That's a shame. The attendance allowance is supposed to there to make someone's life easier because they have 'needs' at home. It's also not means tested.

YABVU. Yes she saved, but because she has savings of £16+ she doesn't meet the regulations for means tested HB. Many would argue it's unfair but it's the rules. And £22 k for a funeral? Really?

I have no sympathy.
During the time she would have had forms to refill in. Questions about savings are on the form, if she couldn’t do the forms she would have had help.
She would have been asked about bank accounts and had to provide recent bank statements.
To get that amount only come to light now she didn’t inform them about savings or the savings account.
The last thing on the form before you sign is about answering questions correctly.

22k for funeral.. how many funerals was she saving for? 🤣

YABU. She has received taxpayers' money that she is not entitled to and is having to pay it back, just like anyone else would.

the point is that they have been disproportionately attacking pensioners This is complete bollocks. Pensioners get much more generous allowances of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit than anyone else. They are allowed to keep twice as much of their income, before benefit starts to be withdrawn, than working age people. They are the only demographic in the country who still qualify for 100% of their Council Tax bill to be paid by Benefit.

I haven't read the DM article but this scenario is not at all uncommon. I work for a local authority and have seen quite a few pensioners who have racked up massive overpayments of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit due to exceeding the capital limit of £16k. All of the very largest overpayments I have seen (over £70,000 in one case) have been owed by pensioners with big savings who claimed benefit when they did not qualify.

Pensioners' overpayments can mount up so much because those in receipt of Guaranteed Pension Credit are eligible for the maximum amounts available and may have been claiming for twenty five years or more.

I know op. Very unreasonable of the state not to want to fund her funeral when services are stretched to breaking.

This just shows that you either need to not claim or spend your money and not be frugal. She could have had some great holidays...

“the point is that they have been disproportionately attacking pensioners This is complete bollocks. Pensioners get much more generous allowances of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit than anyone else. They are allowed to keep twice as much of their income, before benefit starts to be withdrawn, than working age people. They are the only demographic in the country who still qualify for 100% of their Council Tax bill to be paid by Benefit.

They are also exempt from the bedroom tax

I just read that she had £30k saved. just think it is a little strange that someone could save that on £150 a week.

I love how the daily mail is totally cool with fraudulent claiming of benefits as long as you’re old and white.

Of course people should use their savings to live on instead of benefits! £16k is a generous threshold actually. I think some pensioners might even be allowed more than that.
Housing benefit is for people who can't afford to pay their housing costs.

The maximum amount of savings for any claimant is £16k.

Working-age people with savings between £6k and £16k are assumed to earn a notional income from interest of £1 per week for every £250 above £6k. Pensionable-age people with savings between £10k and £16k are assumed to earn £1 per week for every £500 above £10k.

This notional income is included in the means test calculation. So pensioners can keep more savings but lose less benefit. Not saying I disagree with the rules, just clarifying what they are.

She's not poor if she has 22k in the bank, lucky her that she can save that much from £150 a week

"Pensioners' overpayments can mount up so much because those in receipt of Guaranteed Pension Credit are eligible for the maximum amounts available and may have been claiming for twenty five years or more"

Pension Credit didnt exist before 2003.

Apparently she’s been saving since 1989 out of a pension of £149 a week. God knows what her quality of life’s like. Pretty rubbish I imagine. The council in question is mine and a more inept bunch of tossers you’d go a long way to find.

Pensioners who do not smoke, drink or go out can often save money on pretty low incomes, seen it in my family. Many are used to living frugally.